Uncoupling-lever



(No Model.)

B. H. MUNGER. UNOOUPLING LEVER.

No. 600,549. Patented Mar. 15,1898.

ATTORNEYS;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT I-I. MUN GER, OF QUIMBY, IOWA.

UNCOUPLlNG-LEVER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 600,549, dated March 15,1898.

Application filed May 5,1897. Serial No. 635,115. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, ROBERT H. MUNGER, of Quimby, in the county ofCherokee and State of Iowa, have invented a new and Improved Pin-LifterDevice for Car-Couplings, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

This invention relates to means for lifting the coupling-pins ofcar-couplings of the J anney type, and has for its object to provide anovel, simple, and practical device of the indicated character whichwill facilitate the free withdrawal of a coupling-pin either from theroof or the side of a car.

In the usual construction of pin-lifting devices the portion of the samethat is operative at the side of the car frequently impedes the releaseof the coupling-pin from the roof of the car, particularly in coldweather, when sleet or snow is frozen fast upon the rock-shaft or theside lever thereon, which afford means for lifting the coupling-pin fromthe side of the car, as the same rock-shaft is employed for elevatingthe coupling-pin both from the roof and the side of the car.

The improved coupling-pin-lifting device comprisesindependently-operative mechanism at the side and on the roof of the carwhich permits of the easy and reliable lifting at all times of theconnected coupling-pin from either point mentioned and which may bequickly released for operation if at any time impeded by ice or snow.

The invention also provides means on the roof of the car for.temporarily maintaining the vertically-slidable coupling-pin in elevatedposition, so as to be automatically dropped by the impact of twocar-couplings that are to be connected.

The invention further consists in the peculiar construction andcombination of parts, as is hereinafter described, and pointed out inthe claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a side view of one end of a car having a coupling of the Janney type thereon and the improved pin-lifting mechanism adjusted andlifting the coupling-pin from the car-roof. Fig. 2 is an end view of thecarbody having the improvements, the parts being in the position shownin Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a main portion ofthe two-part rock-shaft for the improved pin-lifter and the side leverat one end of said shaft, together with a novel couplingbox for the twosections of the rock-shaft. Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectionalview of the rock-shaft coupling-box substantially on the line 4 4 inFig. 5. Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view of the rock-shaft and anend view of the coupling-box, the section being taken on the line 5 5 inFig. 2. Fig. 6 is an end view of the rock-shaft, the lever thereon, andthe supporting-box for the shaft seen in the direction of the arrow 1 inFigs. 2 and 3, the lever, however, being differently adjusted from theposition it occupies in said figures; and Fig. 7 is an enlarged end viewof the tripping-shaft on the roof of the car, the supportingbracket-stand therefor, and the tripping-lever thereon shown in fulllines as adjusted to lift the car-coupling pin and in dotted lines as inposition to drop said pin, the View being taken in the direction of thearrow 2 in Fig. 1.

In the drawings, A indicates a car-body, whereon the automaticcar-coupling drawhead B is held by any approved means, said draw-headhaving a suitable coupling-pin C, vertically slidable in a perforationin the draw-head near the front of its link-receiving chamber.

The pin-lifting mechanism constituting the present improvements consistsof a rock'shaft composed of two portions 10 10, the portion 10 of saidshaft being horizontally supported to rock on the end of the car-body Ain the bracket-boxes 11 and 12, the box 12, which is of a novelconstruction, being located near the side of the car-body, as indicatedin Fig. 2. The section 10 of the shaft is mainly cylindrical in itsbody, but near the end which engages with the box 12 it is flattened torender it thinner and to produce two widened parallel sides, and on theouter extremity of said section a handle-lever 10" is bent at a rightangle thereto.

The bracket-box 12 comprises a flange b, projecting at a right angle tothe base-plate upon which it is formed, and said flange has a transversesubstantially circular aperture 0 .end which is affixed to said section10 of the 1' shaft. Two ribs d are oppositely and longitudinallydisposed within the box and may be either integral with the box or beattached to the box.

at f in Figs. 1 and 2, and intermediately of the ends ofthe section 10%another arm 17 is projected therefrom in the same plane and direction asthe rock-arm 16, and it will be seen that when the handle-lever 10 ispendent and the flattened portion of the section 10 of the rock-shaftoccupies the slot 0 of the bracketbox 12 the arms 16 17 will be raisedand the pin C be lifted to release the knuckle of the coupling.

On the roof of the car-body A a trippingshaft 18 is supported to rock inbracket-stands 19 20, the stand 19 being simply perforated laterally inits vertical member to receive the body of the shaft, said stand beinglocated near the end wall of the car-body. The tripping-shaft where itengages with the apertured bracket-stand 20 is flattened, and at thisend a right-angle bent handle-lever 21 is formed or secured. Theaperture 9 in the bracket-stand 20 is circular and essentially Thesimilar to that in the bracket-box 12. aperture g is connected with aslot 11 by an extension h of said slot, the slot it being in thisconstruction horizontally disposed, as shown in Fig. 7.

A short limb 18 is formed or secured on the end of the tripping-shaft 18outside of the bracket-stand 19, which limb is loosely connected at itslower end with the outer end of the arm 17 on the part 10 of therock-shaft die-lever 21 is rocked upwardly the corre s-pondi-ngelevation of the rod 22 or its equivalent will so rock the shaft-section1O that the 1 coupling-pin 0 will be lifted and thus release ling.

The other section 10 of the shaft is Y mainly cylindrical and isrotatably supported in axial alinement with the section 10 by 1 roof ofeither coupled car.

Referring to Fig. 6, it will be seen that the pin 0 has been elevated byan upward rocking movement of the handle-lever 1O from a pendentposition, this efiect resulting from the contact of the ribs (1 in thecoupling-box 13 with the edge portions of the leaf 6 of theshaft-section 10, whereby the latter is partly rotated in a properdirection for the elevation of the rock-arm 16 and the looselyshackledpin 0.

Should occasion require, the handle-lever 10 may be temporarily retainedin an upwardly-rocked position, as shown in Fig. 1 in dotted lines andFig. 6 in full lines, if the flattened portion of the shaft-section isintroduced within the transverse slot connecting the rounded aperture 0with the vertical slot 0, as the sides of the flat portion of the shaftwill be then held from rocking by their contact with the walls of saidconnecting-slot enforced by the imposed weight of the han dle-lever, sothat, the coupling-pin may thus be retained elevated until the lever 10is released.

The handle-lever 10 may readily be adjusted to assume a pendentposition, which will locate the ribs 01 in a horizontal plane, and asthe arms 16 17 of the shaft-section 10 are projected outward when thecoupling-pin O is in a lowered condition the upward rock- 1 away fromthe ribs d, as appears in Fig. 3.

Should it be necessary to temporarily adjust the handle-lever 21 so asto maintain it elevated and keep the pin 0 from dropping and thusfacilitate the automatic coupled en-.

.gagement of two side-latching car-couplings, this can be effected ifthe flattened portion of the tripping-shaft close to the handle-lever beloosely interlocked with the walls of the short connecting-sloth'between the slot h and the aperture 9 in the bracket-stand 20, theweight of the inclined handle-lever conducing to the support of thesame.

It will be seen that when the lever 21 is positioned as just explained aslight jar on the tripping-shaft 18 will permit said lever to 1 dropfrom its vertical position, and this will .allow the pin 0 to fall.

As the device located on the roof of the carbody A for lifting thecoupling-pin C may be ope-ratedrand yet not interfere with the device jprovided for elevating the pin from the side 10 10, and it will be seenthat when the hanof the car, it will be evident that any obstructionwhich might render the latter lifting device difficult to move will notinterfere with the detachment of two coupled cars from the This is avery essential provision, as in case of an emergency a train can be cutapart while moving, and the detachment will be eifected with safety tothe operator.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A pin-operatingdevice for car-couplings, comprising a shaft having a flat section atone bearingpoint, a supporting-bearing therefor containing a circularopening, and a slot which is tangent to said circular opening and at itscenter communicates therewith, a second shaft in line with this andhaving an arm attached to the pin, and a slack connection between thetwo shafts, permitting the pin-connected shaft to be oscillated withoutoscillating the other.

2. A pin-operating mechanism for car-couplings, comprising a shaftmounted upon the end of the car and consisting of two separate sections,one section having an arm attached to the pin and the other sectionhaving an operating crank-handle, and slack connections between the twosections which will permit the pin-lifting arm to be raised withoutrotating the other section.

3. Apin-operatingmechanism for car-couplings, comprising a shaftjournaled across the face of the car and having an arm connected to thepin to raise it, a shaft in line with and having slack connectionthereto which will permit the first shaft to be oscillated to raise thepin without oscillating the other shaft, the outer end of the secondshaft having a flattened section and a bearing therefor having acircular opening and a notch or slot communicating therewith and adaptedto receive the flattened section of the shaft to lock it in position.

4. In a pin-lifter, the combination with an upwardly-slidablecoupling-pin, of a two-part rock-shaft on the end of a car, the innerpart of said shaft having a crankarm loosely shackled to thecoupling-pin, the outer part being supported to rock in alinement withthe inner cranked portion, and connected therewith by a slack jointwhich permits the inner part oscillating to lift the pin withoutoperating the outer part, said outer part having a handle-lever, and adevice engaging the shaft near the handle-lever, and adapted totemporarily hold the lever and coupling-pin elevated, substantially asdescribed.

5. A pin-lifter for car-couplings, comprising a two-part rock-shaftsupported to rock on the end of the car, one part of said shaft having acrank-arm loosely shackled to the coupling-pin, the other part of saidshaft being flattened at the outer end and provided with a handle-lever,a coupling-box loosely connecting the two sections of the rock-shaft,and means for loosely connecting an arm on the cranked section of therock-shaft with a pin-lifting device on the roof of the car,substantially as described.

ROBERT H. MUNGER.

Witnesses:

O. A. DENHORDS, (3. H. GRovEs.

